ABOUT US
How It All Began...
Hi, we are the Johnson family and the proud creators of the DOOR BUDDY!
They say necessity is the mother of invention and that is exactly how "Door Buddy" came to be. It all started one night in June 2014, when we were in the kitchen cooking dinner after a long day at work. Our 9-month-old daughter was playing with her toys on the floor behind us.
Or, so we thought...
All of a sudden we heard a racket coming from the laundry room next door. Sure enough, when we entered the room we found cat food everywhere, the water bowl flipped upside down, and wouldn’t you know it, she was headed towards the litter box. Thankfully we found her before she was able to help herself to a "snack".
The thought of our baby girl eating cat poop was just unbearable!
We immediately started searching for something to keep her out of the laundry room. We looked online, in stores, and spoke to friends about how we could prevent this from happening again. Having no other options, we turned to the only solution we found - an expensive baby gate.
Like most parents' experiences, the gate did stop our baby girl from entering the room. However, it did create more problems than it was worth! Trying to enter through a gate with a laundry basket? Impossible. Accessing the laundry room daily to change out litter, food, and water? Challenging AND inconvenient.
Then there was our cat. The last straw was when our beloved 25 pound Maine Coon cat refused to jump over the gate.
"There just has to be a better and easier way..."
Those famous words kept racing through our heads.
The Idea
After much brainstorming, the very first Door Buddy was born.
Our laundry room with the cat food and litter box was finally "baby proofed". Having peace of mind knowing that the cats were happy and my little girl could not get into trouble was priceless to us.
With that said, we knew we had to share Door Buddy with parents and pet owners experiencing similar problems and embarked on the quest to bring Door Buddy to market.
The Solution
After doing some research, we learned that these problems are also common for families with both indoor cats and dogs. Some used pet gates but found that they were cumbersome and inconvenient. Some used top entry or covered litter boxes, but they were expensive and some cats refused to use them because they felt trapped inside. Others even went so far as to cut a hole in their door in order to install an interior cat door.
All pet owners wanted was to give their cats some privacy to potty or just a safe place to retreat to. When we heard these stories, we knew we had to share Door Buddy with dog owners as well. We knew it would make their lives so much easier by giving them a simple yet effective way to keep their dog out of cat food and litter box.
The Product
We went through an evolution of prototypes trying to create something that was effective, easy to use, convenient, and affordable.
Several of our friends and early Door Buddy users commented on how much they loved the product because they finally had an answer to their problems! They were now able to keep their baby and dogs out of the cat food or litter box without the hassle of expensive baby and dog proofing products.
We are so excited to share Door Buddy with parents and pet owners everywhere.
Easy to install and easy to use, Door Buddy keeps your little ones... and EVEN DOGS... out of places they shouldn't be! The best part? You and your cat still have easy access to the room with their litter box, food, and water. Problem solved!
Door Buddy has helped families throughout America, Canada, and Europe by giving them a better, easier, and more convenient way to keep babies and dogs out of unwanted and unsafe rooms.